Shoe for hunting dogs



Dec. 26, 1950 H. B. DAVIS SHOE FOR HUNTING DOGS Filed March 25, 1949Attorney Patented Dec. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I SHOE FORHUNTING DOGS Hosea B. Davis, San Antonio, Tex.

Application March 25, 1949, Serial No. 83,419

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved construction of shoe to be worn byhunting dogs to protect the dogs feet from thorns, grass burrs, sharprocks and other obstructions encountered by hunting dogs and which tendto bruise or otherwise injure the feet.

It is known that boots have been provided for dogs; however, such bootsare relatively stiff and extend to such a height upon the legs that theycould not be worn by a hunting dog as a dog would quickly tireattempting to run in such boots and furthermore the foot of the bootsentirely encloses the foot of the dog.

it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a dog shoewhich will fit snugly around the foot of the dog and extend onlyslightly up the leg to a point beneath the lower joint so as not tohamper the dog in running and which is provided with an open toe portionfor exposing the claws which are necessary for use in effectivelyrunning through fields and over terrain having various obstructions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dog shoe which will fitsnugly when applied and which is soft and pliable to avoid rubbing andblistering the dogs foot. ,1 A further object of the invention is toprovide a shoe which is formfitting to avoid the snagging of weeds orgrass thereon which would tend to slow and the the dog.

A further object of the invention is to provide a Shoe constructed of amaterial which will neither stretch nor shrink sufficiently to affectits tightfitting engagement with the foot and which can be quicklyapplied or removed.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

Figure l is a perspective view showing the shoe in an applied position;

Figure 2 is a plan view showing the shoe removed, on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the shoe takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of FigureFigure 4 is a bottom plan view of the dog shoe;

Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the shoe looking toward the toeportion or left-hand end thereof as seen in Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of the shoe taken substantially alonga plane as indicated by the line 6--t of Figure 2;

Figure 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the upper half of theshoe is formed, and

Figure 8 is a plan view of the blank from which the lower half of theshoe is formed.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the novel shoe for huntingdogs comprising the in; vention is designated generally It and includesan upper section 1 I formed from a blank as 'illus; trated in Figure 7and a bottom section i2, formed from a blank as illustrated in Figure 8.The sec tions I! and 12 are formed from a very soft and pliablematerial, such as buckskin which will neither shrink nor stretch to anymaterial ex; tent and the side edges of said sections are turnedinwardly and stitched together as seen at I3 in Figure 6. The top andbottom shoe sections H- and i2, respectively, have relatively wide endscombining, after the sections have been stitched together, to form theopen top H! of the shoe I?) and said sections H and I2 are provided withtapered opposite end portions i 5 which are folded inwardly of the shoeI!) along the fold lines it and stitched to the inner sides of theirrespective sections to provide an opening I! in the toe portion of theshoe [0.

The bottom shoe section I2 has a flexible sole or pad is secured to itsouter side and over the portion thereof which contacts the bottom of thefoot of the dog and :which is secured thereto by the stitching l9, asseen in Figure 4. The sole or pad 18 is formed of a flexible materialsuch as horsehide or light cowhide.

The upper shoe section I I is split longitudinally and centrally from apoint near the toe opening ii to the open upper end of the shoe is toprovide an opening 20 in the front of the shoe which is adapted to benormally closed by a conventional slide fastener 2|, the hook sectionsof which are secured to the inner side of the upper shoe section II,adjacent said opening 2e and which slide fastener 2| is covered on itsinner side, when closed, by a longitudinally extending flap 22 which issecured along one longitudinal edge to the inner side of the topshoesection l i along one side of the opening 28 and which is of a width tooverlie said opening and the slide fastener 2 I.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that when the slide ofthe fastener 2| is moved to a position adjacent the toe opening ll thatthe front and top of the shoe It will be open so that the foot of a dogmay be readily placed therein and with the two front claws 23 projectingoutwardly through the toe opening IT, as seen in Figure 1. By thenclosing the slide fastener 21,

the shoe ID will be caused to snugly fit around the foot and lowerportion of the leg 24 and with the top Id of the shoe extending onlyslightly above the foot. It will thus be readily apparent that the shoel may be quickly and easily applied or removed and when in an appliedposition, as illustrated in Figure 1, will fit snugly on the foot andabout the lower portion of the leg so as not to materially hamper thedog in running and so that the shoe will not provide any unnecessaryobstructions and become snagged on vines, grass or thickets. The shoe [0will protect the foot of the dog from scratches and cuts which wouldotherwise result from thorns, grass burrs or the like and the bottomsection I2 and sole l8 will protect the bottom of the foot from cuts andbruises or other injuries caused by sharp objects on which the dog mightstep.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventionas hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A shoe for a hunting dog comprising a casing of a flexiblenon-elastic material adapted to snugly receivethe foot and to engagearound the lower portion of the leg, said casing having an open toeportion adapted to expose the two front claws, a pad secured to theouter side of the bottom portion of the shoe and adapted to be disposedbeneath the dogs foot, said pad being formed of a flexible material,said casing including an upper portion having a slit therein extendinglongitudinally thereof from near the toe opening to the opposite openupper end of the shoe, and a slide fastener connected to said upperportion of the casing for closing the opening formed by the slit, theforward part of the slit portion of the casing being disposed above andextending to adjacent the forward end of the pad.

2. A hunting dog shoe comprising a substantially flat casing of aflexible non-elastic material adapted to fit snugly about the foot of adog and having a portion enclosing the lower part only of the leg, saidcasing being formed of top and bottom sections of corresponding shapesand having an open toe portion adapted to expose the two front toes andfrom which the two front claws extend, a flexible sole secured to theouter side of the bottom section of the casing and adapted to bedisposed beneath the dogs foot, said casing being tapered in width fromits intermediate portion toward each of its ends, the top section of thecasing being slit longitudinally from near the toe opening to the openopposite rear end of the shoe, and a slide fastener connected to the topcasing section for closing the opening formed by the slit.

HOSEA B. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Numlter Name Date 2,197,537 Cheeley Apr. 16, 19402,424,172 Huddleston July 15, 1947 2,446,371 Jones Aug. 3, 1948

